18 Nov 2008 Sustainability and MBE Firms – Room for Improvement
Posted at 07:39h
in Sustainable Perspective
During my recent travels and conventioneering, I noticed that MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) firms are seriously underrepresented in the world of sustainability, especially when it comes to sustainability and MBE packaging firms. Here are a few cases in point.
- Four weeks ago I attended the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) Conference in Las Vegas. We met with many large companies that work very hard to identify potential suppliers that are minority business enterprises. Few of these companies were flying the “green” flag, but when questioned, they revealed that their companies indeed had green initiatives - and they were high on the priority list.
One of our favorite blogs is 
Salazar Packaging carries four varieties of packaging papers, all of which are very sustainable. If you are looking for eco friendly packaging, which paper is right for you?
Industrial tissue paper is lightweight and relatively scratch resistant. It's an excellent choice for wrapping fragile or semi-fragile products such as coffee mugs, collectibles, or glassware. Tissue is also excellent for interleaving lightweight items that are susceptible to scratching, such as certain plastics and glass. 
Somewhere along the line, corrugated (and chipboard) partitions fell out of favor as an inner packing material. A lot of it had to do with a desire to reduce corrugated usage and unit cost - both good objectives.
However, corrugated partitions can sometimes reduce overall packaging usage and unit cost, while providing a number of other important sustainable benefits. 
One of the sure signs that you are getting old is when you realize you unintentionally and often make references to characters and things that were popular long before younger people you may be speaking to were even born. That may be the case with the above title.
When I was a kid, one of the most popular Western series on television (black and white no less) was a series called “Have Gun - Will Travel”. That incredibly cool line (for that time) was neatly printed on the lead character’s business card indicating he was a gun for hire. The lead character was known by the single name Paladin and I think he may have started the one name thing, inspiring others like Madonna, Cher or Sting. As I recall his fee was $1,000, which must have been an enormous amount of money back then, so I doubt he had steady work but always managed to find at least one client in desperate need of his services in time for each weekly, exciting episode. 
Most industries have a standard for measuring or describing the construction of a particular material. However, in the corrugated industry, there are two standards - the Mullen Test and the Edge Crush Test. This leads to quite a bit of confusion in the marketplace.
The Mullen Test, which has been used for many years, tests the bursting strength of corrugated board - how much pressure is required to rupture the wall of a piece of corrugated material. Boxes conforming to the Mullen Test standard are identified as 200# Test, 275# Test, etc. The higher the number, the stronger the corrugated box.
The Edge Crush Test, which was developed in the 1990's, measures the stacking strength of corrugated board - how much top to bottom pressure a box can withstand before crushing. Boxes conforming to the Edge Crush Test standard are identified as 32ECT, 44 ECT, etc. Again, the higher the number, the stronger the corrugated box.